As a guitarist and vocalist. The sound played by Kenichi Asai.
SPINNING MARGARET" is an instrumental album, so in a sense, you are not using your word sense, which is one of your weapons, but is there a reason why you decided to make it an instrumental album?
He simply wanted to do an instrumental. I've already released an instrumental album, but I like instrumental music. I don't have to write lyrics. If it's an instrument, it's universal. It was just the time when I wanted to do it.
Do you find a difference in production method and difficulty between instrumental music and music with lyrics like "TOO BLUE"?
I think the instrumentation is a little less challenging. Of course, the quality has to be high. Writing lyrics is very difficult. With instrumental music, you can concentrate on melody, harmony, and ensemble. But you still have to move people's hearts, so...it's about the same level of difficulty. The melody has to move people...to put it in a weird way, it has to move them, so it depends on whether you can create something like that or not. No words.
SPINNING MARGARET" is good to listen to with headphones on, but I think it is also a pleasant song to play as background music.
This time, it's naturally on the mellow side. But there is also the possibility of instrumental music with intensity. We may do that next time. The songs have a peaceful feel to them, so please listen to them when you feel like being peaceful.
This year marks 20 years since the label was established.
We're all in the same 20 years. How will the world move? Finally, really.... Some people say I'm just a worrier, but it would be best if my worries were unfounded. You can't do music or artistic things without a stable society. I hope that such a society will continue for a long time, but I feel that we have been living in peace for so long that we don't have a sense of crisis. So, since the next 20 years will depend on the present, for now I am watching what is happening in the world. I will do my best to do what I can do while keeping an eye on the world.
I think that musicians, like Bob Marley, have a role to play in making a positive statement to society.
There was a time when music sang about such things, wasn't there? I think that Mr. Charter Onuki was right when he said, "A musician has to be ahead of the times. But nowadays, music that is not like that is 99.91 TP10T. They say, "As long as it's fun, it's fine. It's fine to have fun...but it's not fine to be stupid.
I feel that a certain intellectual level is certainly required to understand the worldview of Asai-san's music.
I don't think people who don't understand don't understand. I don't want to make fun of them, though. It would be another fight. In short, I don't understand music that has a "it's good as long as it's fun" view of the world. It scares me. It's so weird that it's normal, and I feel a sense of crisis in the world.
When BJC played their last live concert at Fuji Rock, Mr. Asai said, "I think music is probably the most important thing in the world," and I feel that now is the right time to rethink the social significance of music.
I don't want music to be socially significant, but I want it to cleanse or heal the soul. It makes me feel like, "What's the fun in watching these flirtatious, creepy people? Sorry, that came out sounding like a snide remark (laughs).
When the interview was over and we headed out to shoot, a little happening occurred. Mr. Asai spotted the writer's bike (*Yamaha XS650) and said, "It's a roppan, isn't it? He easily woke up the bike with a kick, which even the bike shop had trouble starting up. Although he said in the interview, "I don't ride Salinger much," it was a moment that showed that the way he rides a motorcycle is as ingrained in his body as the way he plays the guitar or draws illustrations.
Then, after the photo shoot, when I asked him if he would like to take a motorcycle ride with the three Blankees on a trip, he replied, "Yes, we should. I would love to take a trip like PUNKY BAD HIP again someday," he replied. I wonder what kind of new country Mr. Asai will end up in at the end of his journey. It must be a country where people gather around a bonfire, frying pans in hand, and talk about the future.
